In February, the government of Algeria signed a contract with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) to build what will be the third-largest mosque in the world and the largest outside Saudi Arabia. The facility -- which will be stretched across a 49 acre compound, boast a 900-foot-tall minaret, and have room for 120,000 worshippers -- is a means for Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to "leave his mark," according to the country's religious affairs minister. The state-controlled CSCEC, though one of the leading firms in Africa's construction boom, was banned in 2009 from bidding for World Bank financed projects because of a corruption scandal in the Philippines.
Read Full Article »
